To Waltz in the Rain
by ko torii
Summary: This story is going to be kind of dark. Mostly about how Kagome lives her life post Sesshoumaru.
1. La Caminata

La Caminata / The Walk  
AN: This story is going to be a bit darker…more along the lines of my other story "From Inside a Window" but only in style, not content. Goce! (enjoy!)  
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Drip. Drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop. Drip. Drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop. 

Sitting against an old faded wall, which had seen better times, Kagome leaned toward the rusting, white radiator below the window. She had only the piercing pattern of the water impacting the floor for company. The water was slowly slipping down her shoulders from the crown of her head; tumbling down towards her elbow. Collecting and then spilling over onto the floor.

Drip. Drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop. Drip. Drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop. 

The shaking had lessened, but the constant chattering of her teeth remained. Soaked to the very core of her being, drowning in the tears from above, Kagome curled into herself. The small amount of heat that she'd found by hugging her knees to her chest was extinguished when a stiff breeze hit her small frame. Shifting closer to draw back any trace of warmth, her socks left streaks of moisture on the floor. Through it all she said nothing, looked no where, and heard only the drips on the ground besides her; the slippage of time.

Drip. Drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop. Drip. Drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop. 

The dank room that she was sitting in didn't seem familiar. If anyone had lived there recently, they must have been awful housekeepers. The walls were cracked near the ceilings from water damage, the one small window was murky from smoke and the very floor she sat on was warped and splintering. It was desolate in every way. The only piece of furniture in the room was an old stool which looked lopsided on its own…though it could just be the uneven floors. Kagome couldn't sit on it though because on top of the stool was a small pail; used to catch rain water that found a way in through the make-shift sky light. The room was no bigger than one from a low scale college dormitory or hostel. But Kagome saw none of this. All that was left was her memories; memories that she hoped would eventually be washed away by the same rain that fell upon the ramshackle residence.

Drip. Drip, drop. Drip, drip, drop.

The window above her was faltering, and shivering under every blow of the strong winds. The frigid temperatures brought out the dreariness of her situation. Chuckling in a weary shadow of humor, Kagome struggled to shift closer to the radiator. The heat had been turned off about fifteen minutes ago, but there was a few minutes left until the residual heat ran out. Unconsciously avoiding any burns Kagome made sure to avoid actual contact with the heat source. Heating bills were piled in a pile to the left of her open door. She just couldn't afford it this month, or last month for that matter. The only reason she even got food was the generosity of an elderly neighbor. Fighting back a shiver that was traveling up her spine, Kagome gave up on the radiator and stood. The short walk to the door gave her little energy, but after turning in a mock inspection of the room she decided that a walk down the street was the only way to keep warm, even if it meant going outside soaked and frozen.

Drip. Drip, drop.

Walking through the entry that no longer held a door she turned toward the staircase at the end of the hallway. After shimmying open the old metal door she slunk down the two flights of stairs and went into the night. With few prospects and nothing worth losing Kagome strode confidently to the river for the second time that night.

"No volveré."

Drip.  
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No volveré. / I will not return. 


	2. Tú No Camina Solamente

(Tú No Camina Solamente)  
"you don't walk alone"  
AN: Okay, so I realize that i've been away from my stories for a long while, but I amgoing to try and get some work done on all of them in the near future, starting with this one. It's depressing, but eventually it may lighten up, who knows. All translations are at the bottom. Enjoy.

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"Jan," Kagome called out softly while strolling to the far end of, the once famous- now abandoned, Hei Point Bridge. Standing at the point where the bridge joins the road with a few other shaggy looking guys, lighting up joints and smoking, one man turned towards her. A look of calm shock flashed across his sharp hazel eyes that were hidden beneath ragged dark blonde bangs.

At his reaction Kagome gave a shallow wave and a sort of sad smirk.

"Hello boys."

The group of guys standing with Jan gave her their own greetings in low voices. It was a cold, damp night and no one had the energy to even try to sound cheerful. Jan was the only one yet to make a reply; he stood with his cigarette hanging loosely from his right hand.

With a shade of real concern in his voice Jan finally spoke; " 'Gomes what're ya doin' back out in dis shit hole? I thought ya gots a nice place t' call home now?"

Disregarding his question for the moment, Kagome walked over to him. After stealing the cigarette from his now raised hand she took a long drag then put it back in his mouth.

"Times change Janny-boy."

The look on Jan's face turned angry after her movements. He spat the cigarette out of his mouth onto the drenched grass at the edge of the road. Looking forcibly impassive Kagome turned to go stand with the other guys but gets held back by a hand.

"Ya made us a promise Kagome. Nuh more drugs, smokes er anythin'. Don' be givin' that all up now for some shit guy."

"Don't even MENTION him."

Kagome didn't yell, she didn't even look anywhere except at her ratty shoes, but her voice was so menacing that Jan let go of her elbow. The three other guys all looked their way; wet hair clinging to their dirty faces.

"Fine Jan, just pretend this never even happened. Don't even worry 'bout it; I'm gone."

Making a smart pivot she started to make her way back up the path to the bridge. Once again she was stopped by a strong, cold hand on her upper arm. She turned around to give Jan a real piece of her mind for being so rude but this time it wasn't Jan, it was one of his other buddies.

"He don't mean anything by it Kagome and ya know it. After what that ass did to you…well…ya know yer like our little sis…"

With a sigh Kagome released the tension that built up in her shoulders and gave a weak nod in agreement.

"I know, but it's hard! How am I just supposed to—"

"No one expects it t' be easy missy, and you damn well know it."

With a sigh she sits to lean against the outer side of the guard rail. Edging forward to lean her head on her knees, Kagome started to shiver until two two pairs of arms went around her small form. One from the guy who had followed her up the path; Dag, and the other; Jan.

With a whisper Jan says, "el mundo pudo olvidarse de usted pero no."

Rocking her gently the two men try to keep the misery from invading her on such a bleak night. Kagome eventually fell asleep from her exhaustion. She had walked five miles in the freezing rain from that card board box she called an apartment, with no coat and old, ripped up sneakers just to get to this place and these people. The strain of all the horrible memories pushed her over the edge. For the first time in weeks she would sleep; sleep in the arms of someone who cared.

"This just ain' right Dag, she never did nothing to deserve this and she knows it."

"We all know it, but not deserving the pain never stopped the world before, and it sure ain' gonna do nothin' now. C'mon we should try and get her down under the bridge."

Lightning flashing across the polluted sky and no one was left to notice. The world was in turmoil, half diseased; the other half starved. Who could spare time on the weather? Below a bridge that held a glow of former glory slept a family. A family of junkies, convicts, orphans and innocents; brought together by a dry place to sleep and the fire in an old can. This pile of misfits made a hole into a home; not because of their love for one another, but for their love of a single young girl who owned nothing but an old jacket, ratty shoes and a heart of gold.

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¡Gracias por leer mi historia¿usted tienen gusto de la? si usted gozó de ella por favor escriba una revisión.  
"thank you for reading my story! did you like it? If you did please write a review."  
(el mundo pudo olvidarse de usted pero no.)  
"the world may forget you but we won't." 


	3. La Caminata de la Vergüenza

"La caminata de la vergüenza" The Walk of Shame

Second update in under a week! And it's about 3 pages in Microsoft word...I'm almost proud of myself. lol.

Anyhow, here is the third chapter of To Waltz in the Rain. Goce!

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The sun was once again above the horizon, or at least it was supposed to be there, as it was eight in the morning. No one could ever really tell where the sun was anymore, small children probably weren't even sure what it really looked like. All of the pollution combined with the constant dreary drizzle to make a sky that resembled Kagome's, Aunt Regina's gravy surprise. Needless to say it looked god awful, and if memory serves, that gravy didn't taste too fabulous either.

With her face set in a grim line Kagome slowly dragged her feet down the sidewalk path, which was really more a mess of broken concrete and dying grass. The town municipal department practically didn't exist anymore and the corrupt government turned a blind eye to the situation. As a result, their once cozy, welcoming town had an overwhelmingly dull feeling. It was lifeless, and full of the pain that the emptiness brought. The people here were no different from the town. No one, except the few elite, was spared from the plague of price hikes and unfair laws. There were once impressive high rises all over town, now they were left vacant; there was no one left that could afford to live in them. The one on the West end was practically condemnable, but once again the government just didn't care enough. In fact, they cared so little for one insignificant building that some of the bolder people in town had taken it into hand. You could almost call it a small community within the din the world had become. It was more like a bunch of squatters in Kagome's opinion though. She could never do that; take over someone else's property. Her mama raised her to be a person with standards and morals, even in times of strife, and she would keep to her laurels. That was one reason Kagome left the crappy apartment she had been renting and ended up at the Hei hub. She had lost her sole form of employment, which had been cleaning up the bathrooms in the town McDonalds. She knew it was coming; the manager kept switching workers so everyone could get some easy cash. That left Kagome with no money to pay for her apartment.

Kagome knew that soon…soon everything would turn around. If the economy can't flourish it dies and then starts anew. As far as she knew, it died a pretty swift death after the war started. All of the town's resources were given over to the military for production of weapons and armor, as a result, the town was left with nothing except a few half empty Eckerd's and a single understaffed McDonalds. But that was neither here nor there. The point was that right now life sucked and she couldn't do shit about it. It didn't help that Jan just couldn't grasp that right now she needed the comfort that drugs used to give her. Since he was the only man in the area that she knew was stupid enough, or nice enough depending on your point of view, to give her a free piece of his stash she was out of luck. So now here she was; in the center of town with the jitters and no place to wait it out. Sure, she could go back to Hei, but the disappointment would just smother her to the point of insanity. She needed to find a new source, and fast, or she was gonna punch something. And if that 'something' turned out to be one of the town's few remaining police force…she was even more screwed. Street Scum, as they tended to call people without homes now, were mostly just fun for the cops. At the slightest provocation they would beat a person to within an inch of death, only to stop and then throw them in jail. Jail wasn't the horrible part though, the cells were actually just as nice as most of the shit holes in town and they had food. It was the fines that really kicked you in the ass. They knew no one could pay of the debt so they'd tell you that you "owed them a favor." Any self respecting girl could tell exactly what that "favor" was expected to be. Kindness and Human Decency were like Santa Clause and the Easter bunny now; reduced to myth and whispered hopes. Ironically enough, the few people who were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs had more humanitarian bones in their bodies than most of the emergency aid folks. That's saying something.

With a sigh Kagome finally stopped in front of her old building and opened up the old metal grate that served as the front door. It gave people that false sense of security. Ha, like an old, rusting, piece of scrap metal would ever keep anything other than raccoons out of the building. It was time to tell Kaede that she wouldn't be coming back any time soon. She ran up the three flights of stairs to the old woman's room. The only reason Kaede could even afford to stay there was because she agreed to stay on as the manager/ maid. Basically she kept the building from falling apart and got to stay there for free. Anyone on the street would say she ad a pretty sweet deal. She was one of the few decent people in town; she had almost the same morals as Kagome. Kaede'd offer to let her stay on for free, she knew, but also recognized that she could never accept the offer. She gave two steady knocks to the center of the door. It looked like if you hit it anywhere else it could collapse. The green paint was peeling off, but you could tell she'd tried to paint over it recently.

'Huh. Wonder where she even found paint…' Kagome thought.

"I'm coming! Hold on," Was heard from inside.

Kaede finally came to the doorway and swung said door open a scant few inches. After seeing it was, in fact Kagome, her eyes widened and she shifted. Kagome thought this was odd as she had never seen Kaede so visibly uncomfortable.

"What is it you need child? I'm a bit….predisposed at the moment."

Quirking an eyebrow at the old woman's jittery behavior Kagome uneasily responded.

"Well….I just wanted to let you know that I won't be coming back after tonight…You know that McDonald's let me go yesterday, and I couldn't pay rent for more than a month…even if I didn't eat I—."

At this Kaede abruptly cut Kagome off. Her posture changed from apprehensive to that of a protective mother hen in 2.5 seconds flat.

"Child! How could you say such a thing? You know you are more than welcome to stay here until you're back on your feet!"

With yet another deep sigh of remorse Kagome said, "Kaede, you and I both know that once you go through time at McDonald's you're never gonna get work again in this town. Although you're offer is really generous…and definitely appreciated, I just can't stay here without knowing that I can pay you back."

"Kagome…" Kaede could only let that whisper escape her. 'This was not how things were supposed to happen! I was supposed to keep Kagome here until …wait! That's it!'

"Kagome, what if I let you work here? I'm getting pretty rickety you know, and soon I won't be able to keep up with all the cobwebs around this old place!" There was almost bitter humor in her voice as she said it.

"Kaede…I don't know…"

"Well why don't you think about it a day or two and then come back and give me your answer then? And only a few days if you don't mind…I don't like the idea of you out there all alone."

"Well I …" seeing that it was with real concern Kaede offered these things Kagome decided, "Qu va!...Bien, hasta mañana. We'll talk about it then, okay?"

"Alright Kagome. Buena suerte paqueña."

With a slight nod to the old woman, Kagome turned and jogged back down the stairs leaving Kaede standing by her door. Kaede released the tension in her shoulders and turned back into her apartment.

"I'm sorry sir, I believe we were discussing something before?"

"Hn. Yes, before we begin again, who that was Kaede?"

'Pft. Straight to the point as always I see, that boy needs to learn some manners!' Inwardly a little peeved Kaede replied snappishly.

"That sir, was just one of my younger tenants. Nothing more. Now Sesshoumaru, what is it that you wanted here?"

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"Que va!" What silliness!

"Bien, hasta mañana" Well, I'll see you tomorrow.

"Buena suerte pequeña" Good luck little one.

Okay, so I just couln't bare to give Kaede that old-timey accent. It just doesn't work for me...especially not in this setting. But ANYHOW...sorry for the cliffhanger--it had to be done. My story thus far was lacking in hooks, it was like two one shots. So there ya go--hook. Not so much Spanish here either..I'm torn on whether or not to add more. Do you as the reader think it would add to the story, or would it just be something to skip over?

Any pushing of the pretty purple button with "Submit Review" on it is greatly appreciated. :)


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